Samantha Serrano
Samantha Serrano '''is a God Eater from Spain who first serves as Vice Captain and later Captain of the Blood Special Forces following Julius's withdrawl to pursue the God Arc Soldier project. She first enlisted into Blood Special Forces alongside Anne Battaini, Kaori Aida and Nana Kozuki. . Biography Samantha, growing up in Spain where it's less chaotic than the Far East, never really faced the pressure to enlist. Her older brother eventually became a God Eater of his own volition, working for the Madrid Branch. Because his pay and Fenrir helping the families of God Eaters covered any necessities the family would need, she remained under the radar for ever finding herself needing to be screened for purposes such as receiving Fenrir issued rations. During one mission, her brother returned home on forced time off with injuries and she thought she remained idle far too long, going forward with trying the aptitude test upon his return. What she didn't expect was the quick murmurings of her potentially being compatible with the Bias Factor for Blood Special Forces and being whisked away to board the FRIAR. There, she passed the aptitude test and was told she was a 3rd Generation God Eater and will be joining training under Captain Julius Visconti along side other new recruits Anne Battaini, Kaori Aida and Nana Kozuki. Personality Samantha is nurturing, gentle, and extremely earnest. While generally serious, down to Earth and practical, she does joke on occasion or just go with the flow with her more comical allies, such as agreeing to punching Emil thrice by his request or going along with Haruomi's ridiculous quests (although always shooting him down when he offers one on one time that's a bit too "personal"). While often being the reliable one someone could count on to keep things in order, she doesn't hesitate acting recklessly when it counts, such as jumping into a God Arc Solider to save Ciel. She always puts herself in the line of fire in a battle to ensure others remain safe, though she does know her limits and gauges when she should pull back and recover well. She has an impressive amount of self control and stoicism, doing well not to give away when she's suffering on the inside and it takes a lot for her to have an emotional outburst, one of the rare occasions being when confronting Julius about the God Arc soldiers, pleading that she'd rather die on the battlefield than guarantee her safety on the suffering of patients, frustration incredibly evident when he replies he'll do anything with his remaining time to keep her and the others safe, even if she hates him. She does let herself relax when she's off duty, but only a certain few have really seen her kick back. Appearance Samantha has short black hair, blue eyes with a beauty mark under the left one and olive skin. Her favorite outfit is an elegant blue pin striped skirt with black and gold ribbon and ruffles, with a blue pinstriped vest and scarf combination along with a black 3/4th sleeve button down with two diamond shaped vents on the collarbone and chest as well as a black and blue butterfly clip sitting on the left side of her hair. Aside from that, she wears either the Blood uniform when required, her combat uniform that consists of a durable tailcoat, short white dress with a gold trim and blue top layer with a collar connecting from the back, white cravat and black thigh high boots, along with short black shorts under for coverage, or other fancy attire, one that consists of a tailcoat and cravat along with fancy beads worn atop a blue short skirt and white thigh high boots. The special black and gold Blood unit issue armlet sits on her right wrist. Romance Samantha quickly develops a liking for Julius- right away when meeting him in the garden area, she's a little nervous to be invited to sit next to him, noting he's quite handsome (and becomes doubly so when she finds out he's her Captain), and immediately feels cupid's arrow when he saves her and Nana from an ogretail trying to pounce them, coolly blocking it from them by jamming his own hand in it's jaw and hitting it away with much ease with just one arm before giving them a short speech to rally them up. Although she keeps herself professional for the most part, her admiration is none too subtle, always having the highest praises for him, straightening herself up when she sees he's around and aspects of his fighting style clearly bleeding into her own. She's completely unaware that he's taking an interest to her as well, as his actions are more subtle and seemingly business-like. While she enjoys the comfort and warmth of being supported by him at the time, she misses the gentle, proud smile he gives her when first activating her blood art and repelling the Marduk from hurting Emil and misses the lengths he goes, even rejecting his own pay when she's thrown in the brig for disobeying orders and mounting a God Arc Solider to rescue Ciel (although Romeo was sure to tell her about that one), the moment causing him to feel a noticeably growing gratitude, respect and fondness for her. Shortly after is when the unit, and a few others after being re-stationed at the Far East, begin to joke on the way they handle the unit, calling them mom and dad- just the run on joke would fluster her already, but it didn't compare to the first time when Julius seemed receptive ''of it and began referring to them as their children occasionally. While their interactions were never inherently romantic, some viewed them as good as married couple- their deep respect for one another, being each other's equal, supporting each other off and on the battle field naturally, deferring to each other for most decisions and Blood, their rowdy children. When things quickly go sour and Romeo is killed defending Julius, Julius makes the decision to leave Blood in her hands, knowing they'll be okay with her- at least until he's able to complete the God Arc Solider project and eliminate the need for them to ''ever battle aragami again, he hopes. Now he's filled with dread that any mission could be their last, that their life could easily be taken from them as quickly as Romeo's was, her especially after having taken big risks to ensure Blood's safety and begins to assume she just might be next. He knows Blood would hate that he's going along with Rachel's proposal of using Plague victims to power the soldiers even if she promised to cure them after, all the more when Samantha almost tearfully pleads with him to let them free and come back to them, that she'd rather be killed than live off their sacrifice- but hearing her readily accepting death as the alternative pushes him more to finish before the Plague can take him, begging her to fall back with the others before they send soldiers after them to eradicate them and have all of it be in vain. After his defeat as the Singularity and Blood are forced to part with him, the resonance they share before they leave is enough to communicate how they've felt and he thanks her, for caring for him and still trusting him before bidding Blood as a whole farewell to continue his battle. When Blood later saves him from the Spiral Tree and he attempts to apologize for not being strong enough to save them, Samantha stops him gently and says that it's together, they're stronger, and it's only together that they were able to grant her greatest wish of finally freeing him. He pledges to follow wherever she leads and she's quite surprised when they reenlist as God Eaters, he does that exactly and enjoys doing just about everything with her and Blood now, closer to them than ever before. With him and Romeo back in the fold and the addition of Livie, things fall in a similar, but much more harmonic pattern to how they were before, neither really doing anything about their feelings(not really acknowledging or even realizing there's another step), until Romeo makes a quip about how devoted Julius seems and says he might as well marry her. Realizing that indeed is an option, he proposes on the spot. There's a little bit of a freakout, considering that just maybe a few steps were skipped- but after almost losing Julius repeatedly, Samantha accepts. One never knows what tomorrow holds for them and she'll make the most of her happiness now. The eventual ceremony takes place on the Sacred Ground. Character Relationships '''Julius Visconti: Her former captain and occasional acting Vice Captain when they're busy, as well as eventual partner. They have a great deal of mutual respect towards one another and know they can trust each other with any task. Always believing in him and knowing circumstances pushed him into doing things he regrets going forward with, she never gave up on trying to bring him back, no matter how bleak things seemed or even when their teammates were beginning to doubt things could work out. His active efforts in changing, seeing his old ways were no good, blindsided her and she never quite gets used to the happy, excited way he calls her "Captain" and the proud praises for her he shares never fails to make her feel totally embarrassed. She's extremely happy that now he's much more involved with everyone and prefers doing things together. She's most happy now that he confides in and leans on her a lot more. She finds security in holding his hand during overnight missions, comforted that she can feel he's really there. Romeo Leoni: Before he was KIA and resurrected, she half-joked that he was a problem child, always bickering with Gil (saying the same thing about Gil, despite Gil being older). Whenever his antics or fights got out of hand and she couldn't quite rein him in, she'd shoot Julius a troubled glance and one pointed look from him would get him to behave a little. She deeply regret both not being able to hear about his troubles sooner and not chasing after him and Julius in the red rain and has troubles accepting his death. After the 2nd devouring apocalypse was localized, she had no idea saving him was even going to be a possibility and seeing him alive and well is what really pushes her into feeling complete relief, as if the trouble has truly ended and everything is okay again. Fortunately, he's as lively and as silly as she remembered and she feels quite happy telling him halfheartedly to knock off his antics, the biggest smile she can manage plastered on her face as she watches a joyful Kaori goof around with him. She's proud of the hardwork he's putting to bridge the gap Fenrir placed on him after stripping his posthumous rank and is quite ''happy his bickering with Gil has just become playful banter. He complains about her mom'ing him even more than before though. '''Nana Kozuki': She knows she fusses over Nana quite a bit, looking after her when she’s doing something a bit concerning, looking after her and the others when they do her mystery food pill game and giving her a push when needed. She does believe in Nana’s skills and treats her like an equal, knowing full well that she’s a capable God Eater. She also receives support from Nana, Nana always knowing when she's not doing so hot or helping with the more emotional aspects, like when Nana comforted Ciel better than Samantha figured she could when they were forced to leave Julius behind after stopping him as the World Opener. She was also the one who embarrassingly recounted to Julius about how determined Samantha was to rescue him time and time again and never giving up, until she, in her words, "awesomely tore open a huuuuge aragami with her bare hands" and bridal carried him to safety. Gilbert McLane: The two of them started off well and only got along better as time went by and are as close as actual siblings, partly ignoring how many times she had to reprimand him for squabbling with Romeo. They have no problem talking freely to each other about anything, from things bothering them to asking for a favor and knowing the other would be glad with helping out. They do things like fist bumps, and baring their soul out when they have a problem over drinks in the lounge with Haruomi, but god forbid they’d show that display to others, they’re too cool for that, Gil seeming aloof and Samantha always seeming proper and well behaved. She jokingly offers advice for his budding relationship as a much better alternative to trusting Haru with it, but he waves her off and tells her to save her dreams of romance until they bring a certain somebody back. Ciel Alencon: 'As Ciel's rigid personality didn't quite meld with the group well at first, her way of taking things by the book crashing with Gil and her serious personality not fitting in too well with the rest, Samantha made sure to pay extra care with her, extending her hand as much as she could and making sure to make her best attempt at befriending her, trying to make her feel comfortable or at least feel like she had a life line in the group. It's after she mounts her rescue in the God Arc Soldier that Ciel begins to show more emotion and open up more, starting to get along with the others and beginning to find her spot in the group. Ciel considered Samantha her best friend and Samantha is glad to reciprocate, Ciel being the easiest for her to communicate with. Samantha feels terrible she couldn't provide Ciel with proper support when she broke down while they had to leave Julius, but Ciel is understanding of it, knowing she must barely have been able to keep it together and wanted to show Julius and them that she'd be strong. Ciel is probably the happiest about Samantha and Julius becoming a thing. 'Anne Battaini: 'Her and Anne joined Gil and Julius in the lounge to relax sometimes when they'd have time off and just wanted to use it to relax for a change where they would pair up and enjoy games of pool. While in the whole group though, Anne definitely contributes with keeping Samantha's hands full, all in on the horseplay with Romeo, Kaori and Nana and consistently has to ask them to take things a little more seriously, along with Anne's occasional roasting of others with her sarcastic quips. She also hypocritically backs up Julius when he tells Anne to mind her language that others can hear her on the comm, as she too has the habit of cursing out aragami in her native tongue- but no one understands her. In combat, she trusts her immensely, but hesitates some when it comes to tasking her with rescuing teammates, knowing she works more on emotion in those situations and gets a little reckless. She changes this outlook upon Romeo's passing, seeing she's a lot more careful about her actions and knows she'll come back okay too. 'Kaori Aida: '''Kaori perplexed her at first, seeing her incredibly impressive showing with training compared to the stark contrast of the absolute goober she became once she was off the battlefield. She supposed a leadership was just something Kaori may not have been built for- until Romeo tragically passed and Julius withdrew from Blood, causing her to promote and leaving Grem to decide to promote Kaori to Vice Captain. This new, broken Kaori was now the most suitable among the members to promote, and was forced to and it felt terrible. Samantha remained concerned over the change in her friend until they eventually work with Livie and sees a glimpse of the old Kaori when Livie recounts of her childhood with Romeo, hoping one day she'll come back. It unexpectedly happens when Romeo is revived and she couldn't be happier to see Kaori slowly become more of the happy person she once was. '''Rachel Claudius: Samantha was trusting of Rachel and took her guidance of the Blood unit seriously up until Romeo's death. She started becoming bothered by her decisions after that. Offering Julius an opportunity to still fight in some way despite contracting the plague seemed okay to her until she realized he grew suspiciously distant. That she'd even send him mail only to receive radio silence at a point made her become wary that Rachel must have pulled him away for something, especially when she emphasized Blood should remain together. When Leah comes to plead them for help, the horror she feels when it comes up as true is indescribable, and she's beyond seething when she realizes she's played on Julius's fragile emotions and what he believes is his life's time limit to get him to agree with her plan of using innocent victims. When she returns at the time of the Spiral Tree to still make Julius suffer to bring about the apocalypse fuels her fury all the more. When she's able to rip Julius free from her Aragami form's grasp is the biggest relief she's ever felt in her life. Still, she thanks Rachel for enlisting her to Blood and giving her this path in life.Rachel's motif are black butterflies while Samantha's is blue. Image1 (2).jpg Image5.jpg Rescue plain.png H.png Julius and MC.png Image4.jpg Trivia -While Kaori and Anne are also most definitely very capable God Eaters who's skills could qualify them for a leadership position, Julius picks Samantha as his Vice Captain with no hesitation, as she's the only one who doesn't act up and tries to assist him in keeping a semblance of order. -In her Vice Captain days, she'd just have to give Julius the glance that showed she was overwhelmed and he'd get everyone in line with a sharp look or command. Some people made it a habit of referring to her and Julius as Blood unit's mom and dad thanks to this and a few other things, such as the unit, although capable and do get along, are prone to immature bouts and letting their emotions do the talking and the two usually have to rein them all in. The group mostly changes after the end of the Spiral Tree incident... mostly. While everyone has matured, the light hearted jokesters reprise their roles. While Julius and Samantha more or less go with the flow now, they instead act like proud parents and Julius seems to enjoy the idea of what some joke as "family outings", thinking they should spend more quality time together (and does refer to Blood as "our family"), they keep their nickname of Mom and Dad. -Some members of the team take to teasing her and referring to Julius as "Captain Handsome" when she's around to watch her panic and unfortunately it rubs off on some that enjoy nicknames. Julius eventually becomes aware they're just doing it to bother as they only ever do it in her presence, but only ever rolls his eyes at it to not put her on the spot. -Samantha has relatively low alcohol tolerance, but wanted to look like she could keep up with Gil and Julius at first when hanging out in the lounge with them and downed some cups of scotch, which led up to "the pool incident". No one talks about it out of respect of her pleading them to, all that's known is that an 8 ball beamed Emil right between the eyes (with Gil terribly saying "Nice shot, Vice Captain."). Now she slowly sips weaker wines. -She sometimes slips into angry Spanish when fighting aragami and throws swears at them. -The aragami Rachel brings forth as her challenge after trying to guilt her for abandoning Julius is Einherjar, an aragami that looks much like Julius's sigularity form. -For a while after being wed, some would jokingly call for "Captain Visconti" but never specify ''which. ''She couldn't find the will to be mad at their game once she saw Julius was pleased that now he has family again- family that cares, and seeing her show up when others called for that name would put a smile on his face. -Julius was unsure if she felt truly happy at the idea of being wed to him and asks her about it when things calm down, as taking his last name would probably throw some scrutiny on her, as he's not very well regarded in Fenrir for the FRIAR coup d'etat and feels like he shouldn't be forgiven for agreement of mistreatment of the Black Plague victims. She reassures him that she doesn't give a damn about Fenrir's opinion of him since plenty wanted to agree to his terms at the time and she's well aware of what he's done and what's important is that he acknowledges it, strongly regrets it and is actively seeking to make things right and she'll always be there to support him and help him down the right path. -Being extremely unsettled when coming back to face Julius as the singularity, she's late to jump back at his first attack and narrowly escaped a bigger injury thanks to Gil forcefully dragging her backwards. She wasn't cut deep, but she has a relatively light scar on her left calf. -Brittanie Wheeler occasionally entrusts her to take care of her daughter, Shio Schicksal. She finds joy in doing this, as it's calming to care for her and she begins to entertain the idea of how nice it'd be to have a daughter. She likes dressing her up in frills and ribbons, even if doesn't actually last. When Samantha becomes a mother herself, she enjoys trips to collect materials with Brittanie and fuss over clothes they could make their children.